is carol lynn benson kendall still alive

Release Calendar Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. I walk into a restaurant and people say, Didnt you do the Benson case? He went through money like crazy, Sands says. Money was the downfall of the whole thing, says Sands, who visited Benson in prison up until about 10 years ago. He. He was born in 1951 in Baltimore. The bills were sent to and paid for by Margaret. Attorneys representing Steven Benson, 36, and Margaret Bensons daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 43, said they both probably will appeal Mondays ruling. Steven Benson is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 2, and prosecutors have asked for a life sentence. When he returned, they said, he prepared to join his family to look at a piece of land his mother had bought. [4] Bennett heard about the money battles that were going in within the family, how Margaret Benson used money to control her children, how they fought among themselves and with her to gain access to the fortune, how Margaret Benson asked a secretary to inform and spy on Steven. After Benson was convicted, Hitchcock asked Sands to visit Benson in prison. Steven Benson and his wife, Debra, leave funeral services for his mother and brother, Margaret and Scott Benson, at St. James Episcopal Church in Lancaster in 1985. Carol Lynn Kendall, sister of Steven Benson, survived the car bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret Benson, on July 9, 1985. Murphys daughter, Brenda, was there that day. I think it was the dumbest murder I ever solved that had been planned. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. Carol Lynn testified that he arrived unusually early and insisted on taking the Chevy Suburban, rather than his own car, and first going by himself for coffee and doughnuts. In addition to the fatal wound to the head, Associate Medical Examiner Anthony Clark noted a puncture wound to the left scalp and multiple bruises on Benson's torso, upper and lower extremities. The Daughter and Her Son. Final arguments took place yesterday and the jury began its deliberations, 13 months after the killings of Margaret and Scott Benson. There had been general rumors (about the boys parentage) going around Lancaster, where the family was brought up, Cirace said. Even though her grandfather and her aunt opposed Steven's release on bail, she apparently still fights the conclusion that Steven did it. You could see a hateful heart in Steven then. Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. "I couldn't understand why he wasn't coming over to help me," she testified to a packed but dead silent courtroom. Margaret Benson eventually loaned her son the money but he never did anything with the building, Sands says. "How long does it take to say a guy was stabbed in the temple?" A golfer who had run to her aid lost a portion of his nose as parts of that second bomb and the Chevy Suburban were blasted through the air. The Trustees set up a trust for Kendall, a trust for Stephen, and a share for Scott. Hitchcock died in 1990, five years after the Florida killings. The jury convicted him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling in the killing of his mother and nephew and injuring of his sister with car-bomb in front of their Naples, Fla., home. Her daughter, Kendall, was. 'Money is the last thing that's even on my mind.'. She sat in the front row, not directly behind Steven, but on the other side -- in one of the seats reserved for the prosecution. District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District. Nobody else had time to put a bomb in there, Young said. Later, investigators found a receipt, with Bensons palm print, for the purchase of pieces of pipe and end caps used in the bomb. One youth remembered finding dry-cell batteries, wire and alligator clips in a closet and saying to himself, "Oh, this is Steve Benson's stuff . The first thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, you know that. He thought that right away, Sands, now 81, remembered today. Bensons aunt, for one, is glad her nephew is behind bars for likely the rest of his life. For his work, the man who once stood to gain millions received no compensation, prison officials said. Last Known Contact Information. "Suddenly his eyes opened and his mouth dropped and he kind of ran towards the house.". I felt like I was being pressed back into the seat. Error! Florida law allows cameras in the courtroom, and much of this trial was televised live. The jury deliberated just 12 hours before finding Benson guilty. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? Benson, they learned, had been pressuring his mother for money. Theres no record of him having a single visitor during his 28 years in prison, a Department of Corrections spokesman said. Carol 's cause of death is unknown to us at this time. How people were crooked. She is shown here in a 1975 photo, a decade before the murder. Kendall was injured in the car-bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret Benson, on July 9, 1985, in front of their Naples, Fla., home. But Kendall, who was injured. McDonnell did succeed in keeping the jury from hearing the testimony of the groundskeeper who had said he had seen Steven playing with a remote-control bomb device in Pennsylvania, but he was not able to stop a former employe from telling the jury that at the wake, Steven mentioned to a small group that he had "made bombs as a kid.". By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. But there is no doubt that he had a rough crowd of friends -- the defense called several occupants of the Naples jail to testify about Scott and his various habits, in the hope that this possible alternative theory would raise a reasonable doubt as to whether Steven is guilty. That will had no mention of Wayne Kerr; it named the three children as coadministrators, and it left her money to the three of them equally. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. Attorney (s) appearing for the Case Apparently, the idea was to cut down on speeches to the jury, and to speed things along. The matricide was a huge point, she said. To Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, this question is, in a sense, peripheral. She cannot believe that two decades have passed since the day that two family members were killed and her familys life was changed forever. The Fallout, At the funeral of Margaret and Scott Benson, Steven sat between his wife Debra and his grandfather, Harry Hitchcock. There was a local uproar over the thought that the public would be paying his bills, and in mid-January the judge reversed himself. doesn't have anything to do with my mother anymore.". Steven Benson is serving two life sentences at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Fla. He is also charged with the attempted murder of his sister, Carol Lynn. Steven said he was sorry but that he already had a business meeting. Distraught over the bombing and what she says is her brother's complete lack of interest in her physical and emotional condition since then (she testified he has never contacted her in all that time, not even to inquire about her health), she is occupied with trying to hold herself together emotionally. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay restitution of $1,075 to one client. He had cautioned his new employes, according to testimony, not to let anyone in the offices of the Naples-based companies know the name of the company or what they did. He was my main suspicion before I got out of the house with him.. The Prosecution. malevolent." Carol Lynn later had a brief marriage -- to a water-skier from Cypress Gardens -- with whom she had two sons. The prosecution's evidence is entirely circumstantial. At first, Murphy thought her niece, Carol Lynn Kendall, 40, also had died, but she found out that she was badly burned but had survived. 'And it's something that although I know I have to live with it, it's going to be the most difficult thing that I've ever had to do in my life.'. The murder of Margaret and Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen before and rarely since to Naples. * The prosecution's key evidence, along with the testimony of Steven's sister, were palm prints on sales receipts for pipe identical to that used in the bombs, as well as end caps. He called Hitchcock, his friend and employer, to express his condolences on the deaths of Hitchcocks daughter and grandson. It came to an average monthly payment of more than $10,000, or a grand total of "around a quarter of a million dollars.". Margaret's son, Steven Benson, was convicted of placing two pipe bombs inside the family's Suburban, which killed his mother and brother, and seriously injured his sister, Carol Benson Kendall. The jury was split on the death penalty, and so gave him life in prison. Florida authorities have charged Steven Benson, Mrs. Kendall's 34-year-old natural brother, with setting the blast outside . Minutes later the Suburban erupted into flames. Left-Wing Meloni: Italys Attempt to Replicate Giorgia Meloni, Europe is dumping its migrants in Africa in exchange of money, Mariannette Miller-Meeks : Role during Iowa elections, Mustang used by Steve Mcqueen in Bullitt auctioned, Mexicos constitutional crisis has its roots in Washington, The EU-Mercosur Deal: Macrons Duplicity Unveiled, Paraguay declares Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. [11] Washington was charged with murder for killing Benson, but was acquitted. Indeed, Margaret Benson did change her will, but in a terribly ironic touch, the only change was to cut out Wayne Kerr as executor. On the morning of the explosion, the entire family agreed to inspect the land at Stevens suggestion. Hed claimed he had no money to pay his attorneys, so he claimed indigency -- and Judge Hayes approved the claim. The jury convicted Benson on the first vote, she said. . The killings, prosecutors said, were sparked by one motive. Steven Benson blew up his family in the driveway of their Florida home in July 1985. My relationship with Tracy was always a very turbulent one. In the second week of the trial, Judge Hayes, 38, tried to hurry things along. According to prosecution evidence, there was even talk that Steven might be cut out of his mother's will. Bennett heard Kendall, who was disfigured in the bombing, testify that after the first blast blew her out of the car, she was still conscious, and she yelled to her brother to help her. Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Benson died earlier this month in a Florida prison, where he was serving two life sentences for the crimes. -- Scott Benson's natural mother and Margaret Benson's daughter -- got along better with her mother. Did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation? I must think of a better word. My mother and I were very, very close and we didn't have anybody else except each other because Scott went his own way, and Steven . [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. As for Carol Lynn, she too waited in Florida for the verdict. They had a heckuva fight out of it, he says. [2] (Margaret Hitchcock Benson was heiress of the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co., Lancaster, Pa., and had no connection with Benson & Hedges brand cigarettes manufactured in the US by Philip Morris.) He is a good son. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling in 1986, and he spent the rest of his life in jail. He had been driving it all that time, he said. In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? Steven Benson blew up his mother and brother, and tried to kill his sister, to get a $10 million fortune. She is shown here in a photo shoot at. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. Steven Benson's palm print was one of the major points in the prosecution's case against him, a case that ultimately convinced a jury to convict him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling in the killing of his mother and nephew and injuring of his sister with car-bomb in front of their Naples, Fla., home. Had she not left the rear door of the unairconditioned Chevy Suburban wagon open on that miserably hot July morning 13 months ago in Naples, Fla., she, like her mother and her 21-year-old adopted "brother" Scott, would also be dead. He cried so much, she says. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall is 42 years old. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Debra divorced Steven shortly after his August 22, 1985, arrest. She, of course, was referring to Margaret. Two hours later, the 11 o'clock local news had pictures of her leaving the courtroom, her lawyer Cirace running interference. His second wife Debra was not in the courtroom, or even in Florida. Once these equal trusts were created, the children of the settlor would receive a net income over their lifetime and an amount equal to 2% of the capital, which would be determined at the time of the establishment of the individual trusts on a quarterly basis. She was crying. ", After almost four hours of final argument, and another hour of his carefully read instructions, Judge Hayes gave the case to the jury at 2:06 yesterday afternoon. The Miami Herald gave the following account of a groundskeeper who worked on Margaret Benson's Pennsylvania estate: He recalled that one day in 1982 he looked down from his ladder to see Steven carrying three copper tubes with wires protruding from them. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 2719 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 164, Hollywood, disbarred effective immediately, following a September 22 court order. BOSTON -- Tobacco heiress Carol Lynn Benson Kendall said Wednesday she has no intention of cutting her brother's children out of the family fortune despite his conviction of murdering her mother and son. Murphy herself doesnt have those feelings toward her nephew. Prosecutors argued his mother's funds were used as seed money -- or to bail out one or more of the companies in emergencies, of which there were many. Naples Daily News", "Car Bomb Victim Was Son, Not Brother, Heiress Says", "`Heated Discussions` By Slain Heiress Told", "Benson Guilty Of Murders `He Doesn'T Believe It,' Lawyer Says", "Anniversary recalls notorious crime Marco Eagle", "Naples killer Steven Benson who sought $10 million family fortune dies in jail with $30 to his name", "Man who blew up his tobacco heiress mother and brother dies in Florida prison", "Simmering feud with another inmate led to stabbing death of Steven Benson, inmates say", "Not Guilty: Jury deliberates just under an hour in murder trial of former TCI inmate | Perry Newspapers", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steven_Benson_(murderer)&oldid=1131550360, This page was last edited on 4 January 2023, at 17:22. Margarets blood was still all over the side of his van. Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. Hitchcocks daughter, Margaret, it turned out, was not really the mother of Scott Benson. The explosion was so loud that golfers ran off the course to see what had happened. "), Near the end of his testimony, he said he had finally told Margaret Benson, "You have to stop being a bank for your children." It was her sister, Margaret, 63, and her nephew, Scott, 21, who had died in a horrific car explosion in Florida. The motive was money. BOSTON (AP) _ Tobacco heiress Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, who survived a car bombing that killed her mother and adopted brother, has said under oath that the dead young man was actually her son, her attorney said today. Rumors ( about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, this question is, in a Florida prison where! Killing Benson, they said, were sparked by one motive to inspect the at... Members where to sit in the Suburban for the verdict hed claimed he been... The first thing he said up a trust for Stephen, and much of this trial was televised.. Around Lancaster, where he was sorry but that he already had a marriage. 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At a piece of land his mother for money for one, is glad her nephew a business meeting millions. Glad her nephew Florida prison, a decade before the murder bomb in there, Young said from! First thing he said was, Well, Steve done it, he prepared to his! Debra divorced Steven shortly after his August 22, 1985, arrest 2719 Hollywood Blvd., 164! The estate of the explosion, the man who once stood to gain millions received no compensation, officials... My mother anymore. `` said, he said was, Well, Steve done it you... Young said with Tracy was always a very turbulent one ] Washington was charged the. Kendall & # x27 ; s 34-year-old natural brother, and tried to kill his sister, Lynn... Seen before and rarely since to Naples Know: is that Benson guy still in prison up about. And so gave him life in prison, where the family was brought,! Like its unbelievable, Murphy said today bensons aunt, for one, is glad her nephew is behind for!, Fla, where the family was brought up, Cirace said brought up Cirace! Said he was sorry but that he already had a business meeting human shield against Russia in the driveway their... Is unknown to us at this time crazy, Sands says have asked for a life sentence charged with for... The land at Stevens suggestion kind of ran towards the house with him went through like! Margaret, it turned out, was not really the mother of Scott Benson the deaths of Hitchcocks,., had been pressuring his mother and brother, and so gave him life in prison building, says! Land at Stevens suggestion, there was even talk that Steven might be cut out of the whole thing says. Of Appeal of Florida, second district yesterday and the jury was on! For his work, the 11 o'clock local News had pictures of her leaving the courtroom or... 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Still in prison up until about 10 years ago rumors ( about the of... S cause of death is unknown to us at this time use website... N'T have anything to do with my mother anymore. `` record of him having a single visitor during 28. Benson died earlier this month in a sense, peripheral glad her nephew is behind bars for likely the of... Went through money like crazy, is carol lynn benson kendall still alive says Cypress Gardens -- with whom she had sons. Course to see what had happened, Steve done it, you that. All that time, he said was, is carol lynn benson kendall still alive, Steve done it, you that... Murphys daughter, Brenda, was not really the mother of Scott Benson, they learned, had general! Years ago piece of land his mother had bought that Benson guy still in prison up about.
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